From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 30 April 1996
The Kingdom is far less organized than the Tsurani system, where the House organization predominated for centuries.
In the Kingdom there are, basically, two armed forces, those controlled by the local lords, and those controlled by the Crown. (By the way, this changes radically during the period between the books and the games).
At the time of the Riftwar, each Baron, Earl, and Duke has his own garrison. It usually was supervised by the Swordmaster (with a Horsemaster overseeing cavalry). Within that garrison there might be multiple corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains (depending on size; a small Barony might have one captain, two lieutenants, two or
three sergeants, and a half-dozen corporals overseeing a couple of hundred men spread out over the Barony--the Duke of Salador probably has dozens of officers and a score of non-coms supervising a couple of thousand soldiers).
The King's forces and, by extension, the Prince's are similarly organized, except there's no Swordmaster or Horsemaster (except as staff in the Prince's household to teach children those arts). The "knight-" designation means an officer in the royal army, not someone serving a noble.
The politics of the Kingdom can be complex due to the nature of a feudal system. "Chain of command" is often an issue should a noble's lieutenant presume to issue commands to the Prince's soldiers. And to further cloud the issue, the Prince and King's forces also contain special units such as personal guards/household guards, designated special purpose companies like Calis's or the Royal Pathfinders.
Anyway, that's a brief overview.
Best, R.E.F.
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